


And he said, "Here I am, my son."

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Series: and love will be your teacher [16]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, YALL KNOW WHAT THIS ISSSSSS, just in time for thanksgiving too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21595738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: a reunion
Series: and love will be your teacher [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511504
Comments: 34
Kudos: 1097
Collections: Finished111





	And he said, "Here I am, my son."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy thanksgiving! (To all those who celebrate it ^-^)

Zuko carefully tended the fire. Hopefully, Azula would be back soon. She and Mai and Ty Lee had all volunteered to go fishing for lunch. Well, to be honest, it was Azula's turn and Mai and Ty Lee had decided to take pity on her and go with her. Mostly because she, like her brother, was hopeless at fishing.

He poked the coals with a stick idly, breathing in and watching the fire glow brighter. Zuko smiled sadly, eyes crinkling. He felt like he had a purpose again. He was going to find the avatar and help him restore balance to the world. Now if only his father was here, alive and well. His brow softened and he sighed, stirring the fire once more.

At the sound of stomping in the woods, Zuko turned, face alight, "Azula, back already? I didn’t think you'd-“ he froze, eyes wide.

Before him stood a rather startled fire nation soldier. A captain by the looks of it. He started at his scar momentarily before meeting his eyes. Zuko knew their little hideout on ember island was over when they sparked with recognition.

Zuko whirled, lashing out, fire crawling up the trees. The captain yelped, dodging his outburst. Zuko nearly fell over his own feet, scrambling to run, "Azula! Azula!" Hopefully they weren’t too far away.

The captain lurched forward, "Prince Zuko, wait-!”

Zuko tripped over a rock and he went down hard. The man's hands reached towards his face and Zuko lashed outwards, voice cracking with fear and anger, "Get away!"

The soldier ducked the whip of flame, backing up, "Okay, I won’t hurt you!"

Zuko quickly stood, hands outstretched and flickering with fire. Mai burst into the clearing, sweaty and disheveled, knives in her hands, "Zuko, what is it?"

Zuko huffed, lips curled into a snarl, "A fire nation soldier! He knows who I am!"

Mai jolted with surprise, readying herself for battle. The soldier held up his hands, "Please I’m not trying to fight you!”

Ty Lee skittered in after Mai, landing in a graceful crouch, the bag full of fish still in one of her hands, "What's wrong, Zuko?"

Azula skidded into the clearing, took one look at the pleading soldier, and launched herself at the poor captain with a shriek, flames billowing up around her, " What did you do?! "

It might’ve been comical for a small eleven year old to bowl over a grown man and come out on top, a hand fisted in his uniform and the other holding a ball of fire near his face, but it wasn’t. Azula was, as always, terrifying, "How many more of there are you? What are you planning? Do they know we're here?"

The man gaped and she shook him, "Answer me!"

He finally managed to get out, “I’m not here to hurt you!" And then for some reason he spluttered, "Prince Zuko broke my nose!"

His nose, while clearly recovered, did look a little crooked.

Zuko peeked around Azula's shoulder, both Mai and Ty Lee coming up behind them, "I’m uh, sorry?"

Mai put her hands on her hips, "What does your nose have to do with anything?"

He shrank inwards, "Nothing?"

Azula let go of him, clearly disgusted, "He’s an idiot."

Zuko sighed, "What are we going to do with him?"

Azula grinned ruthlessly, "We could always kill him."

Zuko put his hands on his hips, lip jutting out, "Azula! We can’t go around killing our people!"

She extinguished her flames, "Fine. We can tie him up and hope someone comes for him when we are far  _far_ away from here."

Zuko held up a hand, "I’ll get the rope."

Ty Lee kicked the dirt, "Aw, I was just starting to get used to it here." 

Mai sighed and awkwardly patted her back, "No, you weren’t. You were ready for another adventure. You were just complaining about it this morning."

The girl brightened, "Oh, yeah! I was!"

Zuko returned, rope in hands, "It was high time we started doing something anyway. I’m pretty much recovered now."

The captain blanched, "Please, hear me out! I’m not going to tell anyone I saw you! Please don’t leave! We've been looking for you!"

Azula scoffed, "Yeah, we  know you’ve been looking for us, idiot.  And , you can tell my father we aren’t interested." She grinned, "In fact you can tell Fire Lord Ozai-“ Zuko interjected angrily, "He’s not Fire Lord!"

Azula blinked and then her grin sharpened, "You're right, Zuko. That’s sure to make him even more furious. You can tell that  _pretender to the throne_ , that we're coming back. Eventually. And that he had better watch out."

The captain shook his head, "No, Princess Azula, you’ve got it all wrong! Prince Zuko you’ve  got to listen to me!"

Zuko crossed his arms, "Why?"

He opened his mouth and then paused, tilting his head. The four children cocked their heads as well, listening. The bushes were cracking, branches and leaves snapping and rustling. Something big was coming. 

Ty Lee swallowed, "Uh-oh." She pointed at the treetops. Fire was bursting out of them. Someone was burning through the heavy underbrush in an attempt to reach them faster.

Azula stood back from the fire nation captain, lips twisting into an angry sneer. Zuko brought up his hands, "I guess we're going to be fighting."

Azula stood with him, "Well I  have been itching for a real fight."

Mai hunkered down, "I take the ones on the left?"

Ty Lee grinned, "I’ll take the ones on the right!"

The captain brought his hands up to cover his head, "Oh man. You guys... ugh, you’ll find out."

The trees blasted apart, smoke and fire obscuring their view. The children waited, bracing themselves for the inevitable soldiers rushing to meet them.

Zuko's eyes widened.

" _Father?_ "

Iroh stood before them, fists smoking. He blinked, taking in the long suffering captain, Azula's snarl frozen in surprise, Mai and Ty Lee utterly astonished yet braced for an attack, and finally, Zuko, hair much shorter than when he’d left, a wide, red, and fairly recent scar stretching from forehead to ear.

Zuko blinked, eyes welling up with tears, his hands slowly lowering, "Father?"

"Zuko," Iroh breathed, "My son. You’re safe."

Zuko jolted, heels digging into the earth as he took a running leap and threw himself at Iroh. His father caught him, wrapping him up in his arms, tears running down his cheeks, "Oh my son." 

Zuko buried his head in his father's robes, breathing in. Underneath the scent of sea salt and sweat and rock was the familiar smell of jasmine tea and candlelight. His breath hitched, a sob choking up his throat.

Zuko leaned back after several minutes, fingers still clutching his robes, "How are you alive father? I- I saw the explosion!"

Iroh smiled gently, "I had a craving for tea. It saved my life."

Zuko snickered, voice wet, "You would survive your own assassination because of a tea break."

Iroh's brow softened and he brought his hand up to Zuko's face as if, for the first time, realizing there was something very wrong. Zuko's eyes flicked downwards, avoiding Iroh's. Iroh frowned, "Zuko, what happened to your face?"

Zuko winced, "Ah, I- I..."

Mai folded her arms, as blunt as she always was, much to Zuko's appreciation. He didn’t think he could tell the story, "Fire Lord Ozai decided to teach him a lesson. Permanently."

Iroh's eyes hardened, voice dangerously low and quiet, "My brother did this?"

Zuko shrugged, a hand going up to his eye, "I disrespected him."

Iroh smiled softly, swallowing back his anger at Ozai with an almost herculean effort, and gently tilted Zuko's chin up to face him, "I have no doubt you did, Zuko. And I couldn’t be prouder."

Zuko smiled brightly, "Thank you, father."

Azula put her hands on her hips, cooing mockingly, "Well, this has been a truly touching reunion." She snapped, "But what are we going to do about the fire nation soldier?"

Iroh chuckled, hand on Zuko's shoulder, "Oh, that won’t be a problem, Princess Azula! Captain Wan is with me! He’s been very helpful."

Captain Wan scrambled to his feet, "Oh thank goodness you’re here, Fire Lord Iroh. Your niece is terrifying."

Azula narrowed her eyes.

Iroh laughed, "I do believe I told you that already, Captain!" 


End file.
